Former President William Howard Taft was the first President of the University Club, a private hotel and club on 16th Street, just a short walk from the White House:

Right next door to the University Club is the residence of the Russian Ambassador. Rumor has it that some of the upper floors of the University Club were once used by the CIA to spy on the Russians. Nowadays they just have a donkey and an elephant in the front of the club:

The donkey is the Democratic symbol. First associated with Democrat Andrew Jackson's 1828 presidential campaign in which (after being called a Jackass) he showed a donkey on his campaign posters. Cartoonist Thomas Nast used the donkey in newspaper cartoons and made the symbol famous. Nast also invented the other symbol—the Republican elephant - in Harper's Weekly cartoon in 1874.

Highlight of this trip to DC was a visit to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) and then, down the Navy Steps to the West Wing entrance:

I also got some kisses from President Obama: